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I’ll 2nd the Gambler Flappin’ Shad. I like to cut the tail at an angle to create a “V” similar to a Zoom Ultra Vibe speed worm. Then it can be fished like a fluke as well as a mini buzz bait on the surface. Sometimes it’s killer around sparse lily pads & grass.

@Swamp Girl Love it! This is so great. You’re doing a great thing & introducing future generations to fishing & allowing them to fall in love with the outdoors. This is making the world a better place. 😁

I got to the 2nd line of the 2nd paragraph, then I was like NOPE! I didn’t read the rest. 🤣

I’ve used baby brush hogs as jig trailers and they work well. You just have to trim them down a bit to fit better.

I got ya. But still, 1000 bass for the year is super, super impressive. Of the 300 I’m attempting to catch this year, 90% of mine will be dinks outta local ponds, etc. Most of yours are good, quality fish! 😁

I like the SPRO John Crews Little John Type MD 50 Crankbaits. They have silent & rattle versions.

Nice fish Katie!!! You’re talking about catching 1000 bass in a month & I’m just hoping to exceed 300 for the year. 🥴 Right now my count is 137. Life just isn’t fair! 🤣

I agree 100%. I have 3 of these rods now in 7’3” MH and they work great for frogging. This is a dynamite rod for frogs, weightless flukes & senkos, 5” swimbaits (like a unitoad with a 1/8 oz - 1/4 oz weighted belly hook), t-rigs, weightless swimming worms, etc. I won’t even say it’s a great rod for the money….. because it’s just a great all around rod. The fact that I only paid $50 each brand new for mine just makes it better. I too prefer to spend less on rods so I’m not heart broken if one breaks.

I can say they don’t really work on largies in stained water either. No smallies where I live, but I’ve thrown bubblegum & Merthiolate flukes & trick worms in many ponds & lakes…… without much success. Might’ve caught 1-2 largemouth, so I’ll eventually switch back to my normal watermelon, green pumpkin, Junebug or shad colors then start catching more. I’ve been bamboozled too. 🥴 About the only bright colors I’ve had repeated success with are White, Chartreuse or a combo of the two. That goes for soft plastics, spinnerbaits/buzzbaits, crankbaits or any topwater such as frogs, poppers & swimming worms. Go figure! 🤷‍♂️ Think my packs of bubblegum flukes & merthiolate trick worms are going on 10 yrs old and they prob only got 2 baits used per pack. 🤣

I really like spinnerbaits around submerged wood. I have my best luck banging the spinnerbait over every branch or limb on the way back to the boat. Lotta times my strikes come when I pull the spinnerbait over a limb, then let it slow fall & flutter for a second or 2. I’ve become a fan of these Booyah Counterstrike spinnerbaits. Chartreuse & white works well in clear or stained water. Almost always throwing 3/8 oz. https://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Booyah_Counter_Strike_Colorado_Willow_Spinnerbaits_/descpage-BYCWSB.html?from=gshop&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=11473504443&gbraid=0AAAAADkexy7KjX5GCHFAXzRRO5iq3E2l7

Congrats @Swamp Girl. Sounds like a little slice of heaven. As I’ve gotten older I’ve learned less = more. Less house to maintain = more time to fish. Hope it works out for you.

I don’t fish it as much as used to. The pond has a lotta grass on bottom making some lures difficult, like dragging a jig. In the past I’ve had some luck with a lightweight shakey head (only 1/16 - 1/8 oz) jighead using a straight tail worm or a Zoom ultravibe speed worm. Also a 1/10 oz Ned rig with a big TRD. These baits don’t foul with the grass as bad. Also, I’ve had luck with a 4” swimbait like an easy shiner on a 1/8 oz ball jighead. Shallow cranks have caught me a few and a 1/4 oz lipless crank like a redeye shad. Also have had luck with a popper, especially on windy days. Mostly I fish the 2 corners on East side of the pond, the corner with the pedestrian bridge and the corner just south of it near the office buildings. Never seem to have much luck in other areas. Keep in mind, I’ve never really worn them out fishing there. If I catch 2-5 bass in a 3-5 hr outing, I’m usually doing well. Rumor has it, there’s some bigguns in it tho. Biggest I’ve ever caught was about 5 lbs.

Can’t speak about the Grove Pond. I’ve never fished it. But Town Hall/Halle Park Pond is still open. I work pretty close to it & fished it a few times last year.

My wife is stuck in NYC because of the blizzard. She & her sis went to see a few Broadway shows over the weekend. They changed their return flights when the blizzard was coming. My sis-in-law got out on a flight early yesterday morn. My wife not so lucky. Her flight got cancelled twice & now she’s stuck there until at least tomorrow.

I never use leaders. It’s either all braid or all fluoro on all my reels for 2 reasons. Exactly because of this scenario. I don’t want break offs from a weak point. I don’t wanna add another possible reason for my rod + reel + line system to fail. There’s already enough that can go wrong. I’m way too lazy to learn those complicated leader to main line knots. 🤣😂 I tie all my baits with the palomar. One knot, end of story.

HEEEEEYYYYYY!!!!! Ok, I might resemble that remark. 😏

I fear Academy is not far behind. I’ve been watching their fishing section slowly dwindle over the last decade while clothing and youth sporting, athletic apparel have taken over. This is what happens when big, private equity firms take over these chain stores. ☹️

Topwaters are my fav way to fish (frogs, swimming toads, poppers, buzzbaits, whopper ploppers, buzzing worms, etc. etc.) and each has a situation it’ll work best. You just gotta try em all. 2 things: Don’t discount the effectiveness of Wakebaits. They’ll work a lotta times when bass won’t fully commit to something floating or swimming directly on the surface. Even though subsurface, I still consider a wakebait a type of topwater. Sometimes they’ll hit a wakebait 2”-3” just under the surface when they won’t hit other traditional topwater offerings. Learn how to walk the dog with a popper. When I made myself learn this technique, it opened up a whole other world of topwater fishing. I gets more bites walking a popper than with the traditional “chug, chug, pause” retrieve.

For years & as previously mentioned, I’d throw the same as everybody else when it came to bedding bass: Texas rigged lizards, craws, creature baits, etc. And they will work no doubt. But something I found in the last 4 years is the power of a finesse Texas rig. Lotta times when I couldn’t get a bedding bass to react to the usual offerings, I started throwing a big TRD and a lightweight 1/10 oz jig head - not the usual Ned Rig jighead, but the ZMan finesse bulletz jighead that’s weedless. It gives me the ability to shake that Big TRD right in front of their face in a subtle way (while remaining mostly weedless) & it always seems to get their attention. It might take me 30 mins to get a bass to bite, but if I can see them react, I know it’ll work. This is usually after repeated casts with a jig, craw, lizard, creature that a bass wouldn’t even look at while in shaking it right under their nose.

For large flukes I’m a fan of Zoom magnums. I typically use a 5/0 or 6/0 Gamakatsu EWG hook. Don’t seem to have issues with hookups. If the magnum flukes tends to get tangled in the pads & weeds too much, I’ll downsize to a super fluke with a 5/0 EWG superline hook. 99.9% of the time I’m fishing all my flukes weightless.

Kinda a shame about Costa. I had a pair for almost 20 yrs that were still going strong when I lost them overboard. Couldn’t really get a good deal on a new Rx pair, so I started shopping elsewhere. Ended up buying 2 pair from Zenni, polarized with green mirrored lenses & with Rx for about half the price of one pair of Costas. Now I’m glad I didn’t get Costas. So far the Zennis are holding up well but I’ve only fished with them for 1 season.

Agreed with a lot of what you’re saying. I only watch local news & that’s just to catch local weather. I’m fine not knowing the latest of what’s going on in the world & not a fan of politics. This site is my main source for bass fishing related topics. I used to frequent fishing forums for the state of MS, but they eventually shut down. I’m not a fan of social media either.

@Smirak love the pic! 😂

That’s not being soft….. that’s just being a good human being. 😁

I like the Zoom Ultravibe speed worms. I usually save a few that get torn up & will occasionally use as Spinnerbait, bladed jig or Jig trailers. They work great on shakey head jigs too.